Monday, January 02, 2017

The Politically Correct Cookbook

It is hard to talk about cultural appropriation in food. For one, most cuisines have been developed as a result of the influences of many peoples, and hail from particular territories rather than countries. To call paella a staple of Spanish cuisine is probably misguided, since the dish is from the Mediterranean region of Valencia, and yet it has come to represent Spanish cuisine abroad. In America, centuries of immigrants from all around the globe have given us great creations, from classics like the cheeseburger and the burrito to more modern creations like the croughnut or the Korean taco.
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Krishnendu Ray, a New York University professor of food studies, argues in “The Ethnic Restaurateur” that white chefs have more freedom to play with other people’s food than chefs of color do, which creates an inherent inequality in the field. To that, I would add that in a world where most people turn to the Internet to find recipes — and English is the de facto lingua franca of the online world — English-speaking chefs not only have more freedom to play around, but they also have the power to ultimately transform traditional dishes from other countries, without so much as an acknowledgement.

Apparently you can't cook anything that came from another country without asking somebody's permission now. Only Social Justice Warriors could ruin cooking for everyone.